Stories
by Arisuke
Summary: A lot of stories were told among clone troopers themselves. The stories told here were the few among thousands of stories.
1. Curiosity

Author's Note: I don't own Star Wars, just this story and its characters.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Title: Stories

Chapter: 1

Place: Aboard the _**Venator**_-class Star Destroyer, the Pathfinder Regiment's flagship, _**Conqueror**_.

The 9th and the 10th Advance Pathfinder Companies had just arrived to the ship and were greeted by the CO of the Pathfinder Regiment, Commander Strike himself. They had left Creat just less than 3 hours ago and all of them were tired and hungry.

After they saluted their Commanding Officer and took their leave, both the companies separated into 3 groups. One group hit the showers; another went to their respective barracks for a quick doze and the last went to the ship's mess hall.

Even was sitting together with the other three of the Creat's infiltration team in the mess hall. Zapper was not with them though as he had gone to the showers first. Everyone was chewing their food quietly, trying to comprehend their experience in the last mission that had ended almost 6 hours ago at 0022 hours. Unable to bear the quietness in the mess hall, Even finally spoke.

"How did this regiment came to be?"

Everybody looked at him.

"Well, I'm just asking."

No one answered and continued on eating quietly. A few minutes later, Even spoke out again.

"Well, it was good of our CO to bring the _**Conqueror**_ to Creat to pick us up. I wonder how _**Conqueror**_ got its smiling face."

O'Seven sighed in annoyance. "Are you always like this, Even?"

"He's curious about everything. He did ask a few questions in our previous mission," said Smiley.

"The creation of this regiment comes hand in hand with Commander Strike. If you want to know any one of them, you must know the other too," said Lieutenant Book. "Are you ready to hear it, Even?"

"Yes, I am ready."


	2. One and the Other

Author's Note: Read the 1st chapter. I hope you guys like this chapter.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Title: Stories

Chapter: 2

Story: One and the Other

The pathfinder regiment was initially created as an advance force for the 9th Assault Corp to eliminate any possible ambushes and open up any possible ways in the missions that the Corp was involved. The regiment also had another objective, which was to act independently from any other command. From this objective, the pathfinder regiment can actually sent out their companies to help other military divisions without the permission of Commander Gree or Jedi General Luminara Unduli. However, the regiment was still part of the 9th Assault Corp.

With the success of many missions that they're involved in for the first six weeks of the regiment's activation, the pathfinders became very popular that they were given a full autonomy. With this status, they could act more independently, reside in any ship the regiment wanted and more importantly, the regiment no longer became part of the 9th Assault Corp and the regiment don't have any permanent Jedi Commander.

Thus the pathfinders became a separate entity and like the elite crimson Clone Shock Troopers and the blue 501st Legion, their base of operations was located in Coruscant. However, with their tight schedule, only one company resided in Coruscant while the other companies usually resided in ships, often called as Mobile Headquarters by the pathfinders. Commander Strike's favourite ship was the _**Venator**_-class Star Destroyer, _**Conqueror**_. Under his leadership, the ship became more and more like a second home to them that the other ships became more like temporarily shelters.

Since it was formerly affiliated with the 9th Assault Corp, Commander Strike had retained the colour green, but made it darker. He also introduced a standard to differentiate the pathfinders from the 9th Assault Corp. On this emblem, two DC-15As were criss-crossing each other inside a circle of small white stars on a green background. Every pathfinder had this emblem on the side of their helmets and their shoulder pads.

The Pathfinder Regiment was initially made up of volunteers from the Corp itself, but since getting full autonomy, volunteers came in from all over GAR, including freshly trained clone troopers.

Before Strike became the commander, he was just a sergeant in one of the companies of the 9th Assault Corp. Through the experience of fighting in the war for almost 6 months, he became an experience tactician. Based on this experience, his superior leadership skills and a few acts of bravery, he got promoted to the rank of Major in one of 9th Assault Corp's battalions. He even earned a pair of _**Jaig**_ eyes and even got his own _kama_ and _pauldron_.

Commander Strike got his name because of his habit of striking hard and fast on his enemies during missions. Because of this, his battalion became a more specialized unit in opening paths for the Corp. For 2 months he led the battalion using this tactic, and Commander Gree finally decided to create the pathfinder regiment within the Corp with Strike as its head. Based on his past military performance and Commander Gree's recommendation, General Luminara Unduli made him the regimental commander of the pathfinders. However, General Unduli gave him the independence of command, which required him to help other military divisions without having the scrutiny of Commander Gree and General Unduli.

Having to work with so many commanders from other divisions made him a well connected commander and became part of the GAR's upper military echelons, something he was proud of.

"Now you know both stories. Any other that you're interested in?" asked Lieutenant Book.

"Yes, I do actually. How did this ship got its smiling face?"

"That I got to answer," said Smiley, giving one big smile.


	3. Nothing but a smile

Author's Note: Read the first chapter. Hope you guys like reading this style of writing and please review.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Title: Stories

Chapter: 3

Story: Nothing but a smile

Smiley started out as a just another clone trooper in the 212th Attack Battalion. Nothing really happen during his stint in the battalion, but he had shown some potential in destroying all infantry based droids very quickly and in urban and jungle missions, he did it without being seen. Because of this, he was usually given infiltration missions.

As his skills grew, he was recommended to be trained as a sniper and was actually trained by one of Null ARCs who called himself Jaing. Aside from Jaing, Smiley had received a few tips about infiltration from another Null ARC, Prudii. So unlike Lieutenant Book who wanted to meet one of them so badly, he was very lucky to meet two of them.

However, when he heard about the formation of the pathfinder regiment, he quickly dropped out of the training programme and volunteered to become a pathfinder. Smiley's reason to become a pathfinder was because he wanted to see more action since a sniper was considered as a support unit instead of fighting first hand on the battlefield.

After joining the regiment, it became obvious that he actually enjoyed shooting down droids as much as possible. There were even reports from his own squad of hearing him laughing away while mowing down droids. How he got his name was quite obvious. Every time his company got a mission, he was always smiling in excitement and after each mission, he was still smiling, but it was more of a smile of accomplishment. His former team-mates from 212th also remember him behaving this way.

Apparently before he joined the pathfinder regiment, he had a smiley face on a yellow circle both on the front and back of his helmet. Since all pathfinders were given green-coloured armour, he summarised that yellow and green don't go along together and opted to shave his hair into two circles and a curve line. Every time anybody saw the top of his head, they either laugh it off or got irritated by it.

_**Conqueror**_ was just like any other _**Venator**_-class Star Destroyers. What made the ship stand out were the two red circles and a long red curve on its hull. The circles and the curve were actually the repaired area from the damages received during all the battles the ship took part. However, from where the spots were placed, it really looked like a smiley face on the hull of the ship.

The maintenance crew were supposed repaint the spots, but under a lot of argument with a particular clone trooper, they finally paint the areas red. If anyone was looking out from any other ship, they could see two large circular spots and one curving line that made the smiling face.

Thus, the ship had a few nicknames of its own. The most popular ones were The Smiling Conqueror and The Happy Ship. Even the commander of the ship didn't bother to dispute about the nicknames and didn't care about the clone trooper who argued with the maintenance crew. His reasoning was that the smiley face could actually boost morale of the crew of the ship and in the matter of fact, it did.

Even though the ship was treated as a joke sometimes and considered by many as overkill in boosting morale, it was undeniable that the ship was commanded by one of the experienced commanders and housed the famous pathfinder regiment.

* * *

"So that is how it happened, huh?" asked Even. "And don't you think what you are doing is a bit too much, Smiley?"

"I was actually reluctant to force the maintenance crew, but look at how it turns out. If you could bring something positive, isn't it worth the trouble? Isn't it worth going to jail or court-martialed for it?"

Even pondered at the question and nodded. "But making your hair like that, isn't it too much?"

Smiley just smiled at him without answering.

It was then Zapper, wearing his civilian fatigues came in, took his tray of food and sat down beside them.

"Any more you want to know, Even?" asked O'Seven.

"When I talked to the members of 99th Attack Regiment, they seemed to be afraid of Captain Cross. I asked them about it, but they refused to talk about him. Do any you guys know about this Captain Cross?"

"I heard a story about him, but I'm not sure it is true," said Lieutenant Book.

"I'm all ears."


	4. Crossing the path in a zap

Author's Note: Read the first chapter. Please read and give a review. That is all I ask.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Title: Stories

Chapter: 4

Story: Crossing the path in a zap

Captain Cross formerly held the rank of major for one of the battalions in the lesser known 33rd Ground Combat Corp serving in the Outer Rim. He was firstly called by his designated number and continued until one particular mission sometime after Geonosis.

In that mission, his battalion was ordered to retake a city from the enemy and specifically to capture a Separatist leader that resided there alive. In the end, his battalion finally captured their target city and the Separatist leader. However, as Cross and his squad were handing the leader over to their Jedi Commander, the Separatist leader suddenly knelt down and begged to be released in exchange for money.

Hearing this, Cross suddenly became very angry, took out his sidearm and killed the Separatist leader right in front of the Jedi and his very men. After handing in his weapons, he was arrested. Cross was supposed to be court-martialled for disobeying a direct order and killing a valuable prisoner, but for the sake of his well-performed military record, he was given only a stern reprimand and also a demotion.

Because of this, many of the clone troopers consider him as a leader who was willing to cross the line into being violent. Thus, he was nicknamed Cross, even though he hated the name and preferred to be called 'Thirteen' or 'One Three'. With the demotion to captain, he was actually transferred to lead a company in the Logistic and Supply Battalion for the 33rd Ground Combat Corp. The transfer had shown Cross that his superiors no longer trusted him to follow orders in combat and he came to resent it.

Commander Webb heard about Captain Cross' story and knowing his potential, quickly transferred Cross to the 99th Attack Regiment as Commander Webb's adjutant. Captain Cross was actually grateful for Webb's faith in him, but he knew that he would be scrutinized by the rest of the regiment.

* * *

"He really killed the Separatist leader?" asked Even.

"That is what I heard. But it is still unbelievable that a brother of his rank would disobey his orders," replied Book.

"Did he actually admit it?"

"No. Nor did he deny it."

"And because of that, everybody in the 99th is afraid of pissing him off."

"He certainly wants to become the toughest _chakaar_ in the whole of GAR," said Smiley.

"It is one effective way to keep soldiers in line. What is a good way of reminding other soldiers of doing a good job than to have this kind of story sticking to you," said Zapper.

Everybody went quiet after listening to that answer.

"So, Zapper, what's your story?" asked Even.

Zapper looked at Even and then looked at his food long enough to make everybody else think that he was considering the question. "You really want to know?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'll tell you."

* * *

Zapper was member of 3rd Airborne of the 7th Sky Corp, serving under the famous Commander Cody and the Jedi General Kenobi. However, not all troopers in the Corp were able to see both leaders or work directly under any of them. Most of the time they had to be attached to other combat division or sent to different missions in different systems. And Zapper was one of those who weren't able to see or work with both famous leaders.

It was because of these missions that he and his brothers fought against the Mandalorians early in the Clone Wars. Losing so many of his brothers basically made the 3rd Airborne angry about anything connected to the Mandalorians.

The only reason why he joined the pathfinder regiment was because he preferred his feet to touching the ground all the time instead of flying around with his jetpack. Somehow everyone knew that he was actually afraid of heights.

Aside from him, there were five other volunteers from the 7th Sky Corp who gave differential reasons, but had one thing in common. The five wanted more action.

Of all places though, Zapper was assigned to Lieutenant Book's platoon and found out about Book's mild obsession for Mandalorian culture a few days before their Creat mission. As angry as he was, he still had a job to do and still follow orders.

* * *

"If you are so angry at me Zap, then why didn't you apply for a transfer to another platoon?"

"As angry as I am, lieutenant, we are professionals. In any given mission, we must cast aside our feelings and stay focus on the job at hand. As for you, lieutenant, for the sake of professionalism, I just tolerated you," replied Zapper.

O'Seven, Even and Smiley felt the quiet tension between both of them even though the mess hall was noisy with the chatter of other clones. Even was expecting to see Book clenching his fist, but Book remained calm.

"Even?" asked Book.

"Yes."

"Anything else you want to know?"

"What about you, lieutenant? What's your story?"

"After all this while, you ask me now?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I just ask what comes into mind."

"Ok then. I'll tell you my story."


	5. Booking the moss of spider webs

Author's Note: Read the first chapter. Please, read and give any reviews. I just want to know how you guys think about my story.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Title: Stories

Chapter: 5

Story: Booking the moss of spider webs

During his early years while training in Kamino, Book heard the story of how a Mandalorian saved 6 clones from being "reconditioned", in other words, terminated. Later, he also heard that these 6 clones enjoyed the privilege of having names early in their lives and also running around the training facilities at the same time being trained by their caretaker and other Mandalorians.

The more stories Book heard about the 6, which later be called the Nulls, the more he wanted to meet them. Even though he didn't like it, Book had to admit that he became a fan of the Nulls. When he was 5 years old, he began to sneak out of his barracks every night just to meet them and also the Mandalorians.

However, he never had the chance to meet any of the Nulls. In the end, the only person Book met was the Mandalorian that trained him and that was just by chance. After meeting the Mandalorian, Book continued sneaking out to meet him after training and dinner for a year and after a while, the Mandalorian decided to teach him. And every time he came back to the barracks, Book was always carrying a book, hiding it in his shirt and was seen by his brothers reading using a small torchlight.

From that point, his brothers kept on calling him Book and the name stick on him. Because of the knowledge he had acquired from the Mandalorian, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in his 8th year. Like all original members of the pathfinder regiment, he was from the 9th Assault Corp.

* * *

"I still can't believe that throughout your ten-year training, you failed in meeting any one of the Nulls," said Smiley.

"Put that smirk out of your face, Smiley or I'll break your jaw."

Everyone at the table, except Zapper was laughing away. As the laughter died down, there was quietness.

"What about the CO of our company, Captain Moss?" asked Even.

"He is just like you, you know," said Book.

"I heard that before."

* * *

Before the war erupted, Moss was actually a lieutenant on his way to become a captain. So when the war started, that prospect was ultimately lost from his grasp. However, within a first few months of the war, his performance as a leader was undeniable and soon he was back on track into becoming a captain.

Captain Moss was one of the few unusual clones that were curious about everything. Still, his curiosity was perhaps one of the factors that got him his promotion to captain. After a particular jungle mission early in the war, his armour was covered in moss. And that was how he got his name. There wasn't anything much about him after that except that he was a volunteer from the 9th Assault Corp.

* * *

"Which jungle mission did he get his name since both you and O'Seven were there with him from the beginning?" asked Even.

"It is classified, Even."

"Oh come on, lieutenant. We are now in the same team. New guys like me should know."

"Sorry. I can't indulge you with that information."

"Alright. What about Commander Webb then?" asked Even.

Even could see that Book and the others were actually contemplating on what to say.

"The truth is, we don't actually know his story, except on how he got his name," said O'Seven.

"Well, his own men refused to tell anything about him, so I don't really know anything," said Smiley.

"Then, how did you know about Captain Cross?"

"We used to work with his former regiment when this regiment was still affiliated with the 9th Assault Corp. That is why we know about Cross," said Book.

"How do you know about Commander Strike when you don't even know about Commander Webb?"

"We know about Commander Strike because he was once like us. A non-commission officer that worked his way up to become a commander. Basically we all know him without him telling us his story. But for Webb, he already was a commander before this war erupted. Even at my insistence, they only told me about how he got his name," said Book.

Even felt a bit disappointed, but he certainly wanted to hear anything about Webb.

"Webb's original name was Eleven, but his men had told me that Webb preferred to use the name Double. When he was promoted, there was policy to encourage commanders to have better names. So after much consideration, he finally called himself Webb," said Book.

"Webb. Do you know how he got this name?" asked Even.

"I don't know, but apparently he chose it because the name rhymed with his title," said O'Seven.

"Now that's odd."

"Yes it is."

"So what about you, O'Seven? Anything to tell?" asked Even.

O'Seven looked at him and smiled wearily.


	6. A staff of seven and the end

Author's Note: Read the first chapter. This is my last chapter. I hope you guys like it and please give a comment on whether you like or not.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Title: Stories

Chapter: 6

Story: A staff of seven and the end

"Like most brothers, there was nothing much about me at all, during my training or in my missions. But I could tell you how Staff his name."

"Go ahead O'Seven. Tell me," said Even, dejectedly.

"Staff got his name on Geonosis. He was seen using his DC-15A as his melee weapon when his ammunition ran out and leaned on it as a staff. And I had been keeping my name since Kamino. Like me, there wasn't anything interesting that happen in his life, so I can't really tell you anything," said O'Seven, silently remembering his good friend.

"Is that really all?"

"Didn't I tell you already?"

Everybody on the table also went silent. Even had just finished chewing his last mouthful of dinner when O'Seven finished talking. He was actually amazed by what they had told him and was unable to believe some of the stories, especially Captain Cross' story. He began to believe what Zapper said about him in keeping the soldiers in line. What Zapper said actually made sense, in a certain way, but the real situation was probably different than originally thought.

Somehow, Even preferred to talk to Zapper if he wants to get a dose of reality. Smiley if he wants humour. Book and O'Seven if he wants information.

"What about you, Even?" asked Smiley.

Even looked at him and pondered, "It is like what O'Seven said, nothing much happen to most brothers. Besides, I'm still a rookie."

With that said he just kept quiet and finished his drink. Even finally got up, went to his barracks, had a shower and finally dozed off on his bed. His last image before he slept was looking at his brothers cleaning their weapons and armours.

**I am sorry if this ending is disappointing. I don't know how to write endings. Still, I would prefer if you guys like this story and give your overall reviews.**


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